The passato prossimo—grammatically referred to as the present perfect—is a compound tense (tempo composto) that expresses a fact or action that happened in the recent past or that occurred long ago but still has ties to the present.

Here are a few examples of how the passato prossimo appears in Italian:

Ho appena chiamato. (I just called.)

Mi sono iscritto all'università quattro anni fa. (I entered the university four years ago.)

Questa mattina sono uscito presto. (This morning I left early.)

Il Petrarca ha scritto sonetti immortali. (Petrarca wrote enduring sonnets.)

The following table lists some adverbial expressions that are often used with the passato prossimo: